Communities in Northern Hawke’s Bay were brought “back together” with the official opening of a new $15.5 million bridge.

The ribbon-cutting yesterday came four years after the original Te Rēinga bridge was damaged in the March 2022 floods.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little told Local Democracy Reporting that the “number one” part of the Te Rēinga Bridge opening was connecting the communities of Te Rēinga, Ruakituri, and Ohuka.

The lack of a permanent bridge had “basically divided the communities”.

“And so today was about bringing those all back together.”

The new bridge, which had a “leading-edge design”, eliminated the need for piers in the riverbed, according to a Wairoa District Council statement.

The bridge, designed to last for 100 years and withstand flood and earthquake events, was built to modern standards that were “significantly more advanced than those used for the original bridge”.

The new permanent Te Rēinga Bridge is now officially open. Photo / Wairoa District Council

The bridge has a 13.5m-long single lane span and is one of only a “handful” of steel arch bridges in New Zealand. It features a weathering steel 90.5m-long network arch that spans the entire river bed, which is 18m tall at its highest point.

Little said in the statement that building the bridge had been a significant project for the contracting company Quality Roading and Services (QRS).

“We are fortunate that this council-owned company was able to take on such a large project, with a wonderful partnership arrangement with Brian Perry Civil and specialised sub-contractors.”

He thanked the central government and NZTA for recognising the area’s needs and fully funding “this vital connection project to the tune of around $15.5m”.

The loss of the bridge had impacted whānau, farmers and service delivery, he said.

“I know people have suffered and borne the cost.”

The Te Rēinga Bridge connects Wairoa’s Ruakituri Rd to Tiniroto Rd, which traverses from the Wairoa boundary into the Gisborne region.

The communities had gone from “hope to heartbreak so many times”, Little told LDR.

The original Te Rēinga Bridge was first damaged during flooding in March 2022, but it was Cyclone Gabrielle that forced its closure, when a pier washed out.

After the bridge was demolished in June 2023, access was restored by February 2024 when a temporary bridge, including a Bailey bridge, was opened.

The temporary bridge had a maximum weight of 44 tonnes and a speed limit of 10km/h.

Little said it was those living in Ruakituri and Ohuka districts that were most affected, as they would use the bridge to “just flick through to Gisborne”.

“Farmers rely on sheep trucks and cattle trucks ... So those trucks would normally be filled up and come out down through the hills, but then they had to turn around and go up, back up through the hills.”

Those roads were never designed for big trucks to “get in and out”.

Owner of Te Tuhi station in Ruakituri and Hawke’s Bay Regional Councillor Dianne Roadley said going through the Ohuka route would add a couple of hours, as it was “a real back country road”.

“I think there are six cattle stops.”

About six months ago, a new Bailey bridge was installed, which allowed most vehicles to use it, and had been “really good”, Roadley said.

However, the first Bailey bridge could not be used by both a truck and a trailer at the same time.

The truck would go across first, and then a tractor would pull the trailer across, so that the truck and trailer could be reconnected across the bridge.

“So it was a fair bit of rigmarole.”

Roadley said they were grateful to QRS, who had worked really hard to keep that access open, as well as to “the people of New Zealand who paid for the bridge ... we would have struggled with that”.

Napier MP Katie Nimon estimated there were over 100 people at the opening.

This included members of the affected communities, representatives from NZTA, National Infrastructure Funding and Financing, QRS, and WPS (engineering and contracting), and Wairoa District Council staff and councillors.

The event started at 10am with a pōwhiri at Te Rēinga marae, then had a mihi whakatau, which led on to speeches from Little and Nimon, before heading outside for the bridge opening.

Nimon had been at the opening of the Bailey bridge a couple of years ago. When that opened, it was emotional because it was joining isolated communities back together again after a year or more.

However, this was now their “forever bridge”, she said.

“It just feels normal again ... So there were less tears ... There was more relief that they can now move on and go back to normal.”

The council statement reminded motorists that a speed restriction would be in place while structural components were being fine-tuned.

“The neighbouring temporary bridge is still available for use but will be dismantled in the future.”